Multiple operating head machines, particularly multiple spindle textile spooling machines with supervisory operating time indicator

ABSTRACT

A multiple operating head machine, such as a multiple spindle textile spooling machine has apparatus connected thereto to determine the operating overall efficiency of the machine by analyzing the down-time of individual spindles. Each spindle is connected to a switch which is closed when the spindle is operating, placing a resistance in series with the switch. All switches of all spindles are connected in parallel so that, when all spindles are operating an equivalent resistance is placed in a time integrating and pulse generating circuit, the pulse sequence of which supplies an indication of the integrated overall operating time of the spindles of the machines.

United States Patent Duss [451 Oct. 10, 1972 I MULTIPLE OPERATING HEAD MACHINES, PARTICULARLY MULTIPLE SPINDLE TEXTILE SPOOLING MACHINES WITH SUPERVISORY OPERATING TI INDICATOR [72] Inventor: Walter Duss, Bach, Switzerland [73] Assignee: Siegfried Peyer, Bach, Switzerland [22] Filed: Jan. 11, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 105,303

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 14, 1970 Switzerland ..479/70 [52] US. Cl. ..235/l51.3, 139/336, 235/l5l.l, 340/259, 340/419 [51] Int. Cl ..G06f 15/46 [58] Field of Search ..235/150.5, 151.1, 151.3;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS.

3,321,755 5/1967 Cooke ..340/419 mrmmrok STAGE 3,504,191 3/1970 Rodewald..- ..307/1 10 3,576,560 4/1971 Vermeulen ..340/419 X 3,435,854 4/1969 Svaty et al. ..139/336 X 3,549,851 12/ 1970 Hockenberry et al. ....320/ 1 X 3,570,550 3/1971 Budzyna ..139/336 3,594,558 7/1971 Loepfe ..235/151.3

Primary Examiner-Charles E. Atkinson Assistant Examiner-Jerry Smith Attorney-Flynn & Frishauf [57] ABSTRACT A multiple operating head machine, such as a multiple spindle textile spooling machine has apparatus connected thereto to determine the operating overall efficiency of the machine by analyzing the down-time of individual spindles. Each spindle is connected to a switch which is closed when the spindle is operating, placing a resistance in series with the switch. All switches of allspindles are connected in parallel so that, when all spindles are operating an equivalent resistance is placed in a time integrating and pulse generating circuit, the pulse sequence of which supplies an indication of the integrated overall operating time of the spindles of the machines.

8 Clain's, 3 Drawing Figures EQUIVALENT LOAD CIRCUIT INTEGRATED OPE RAT/N6 TIME STORA GE 1" DIV/DE TIME UN IT Um NURMAl/ZING CIRCUIT PATENTEDum 10 m2 sum 1 or 3 CROSS WOUND Fig. I-

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sum 2 or 3 Fl g 2 I DISABLE STORE 40 dz 22 I l 7 1/ r I 1 I I PRINTER I MACHINE OPERATING I w OPERATING I TIME I l TIME cau/vrm I I PULSES wra s I SEQUENCE L u SELECTOR dn I ELAPSIED CLOCK TIME PULSE CLOCK GENERATHR w '/laooHR.

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INTEGRATOR SE65 0uTPuT& THRESHOLD smes 51 "1 .SE\If 'l INTEGRATED .76 URRENT GENERATOR CIRCUIT OPERATING TIME STORA GE I BY I0 CIRCUIT EQUIVALENT LOAD CIRCUIT MULTIPLE OPERATING HEAD MACHINES, PARTICULARLY MULTIPLE SPINDLE TEXTILE SPOOLING MACHINES WITH SUPERVISORY OPERATING TIME'INDICATOR The present invention relates to multiple operating head machinery, and more particularly to multiple spindle textile spooling machines, which are equipped with apparatus to determine the operating efficiency of the machines by providing an output indicative of the operating time of the various operating heads, in a textile machine the various spindles, of the machine.

The present invention will be described specifically in connection with textile machinery, for which it is especially applicable. In the manufacture of textile yarns, the yarn is spooled from cops, weighing about 0.1 kg, over to cross-wound spools weighing, for example, approximately 1 kg. ln hand operating machines, the end of the thread of one cop is tied to the beginning of the next cop, so that a long continuous thread can be wound on the cross-wound spools. Automatic machinery has been developed in which an automatic knotting, or splicing machine makes the'connection from the trailing end of one cop to the leading end of the next. Both types of machines are supplied with thread sensing units to supervise and control the various specific spooling spindles. These spindles will stop as soon as the thread from a cop is exhausted. ln automatic machines, stopping of a specific spindle will, additionally, start the knotting, or splicing of the trailing end from the exhausted cop to the'leading end of the next one.

Textile thread is usually not uniform. It may have thinner and thicker regions.'The thin regions'may tear upon re-spooling. Tearing of the'threadis sensed and, again, the spindle will stop. If desired, additional alarms, or other machine functions can be controlled by the thread control, such as re-knotting, or splicing together of the thread being spooled. Additionally, the thread is tested for gauge, that is thickness, during spooling. Electronic and mechanical-stages have been proposed which sever the thread when a certain tolorence region is exceeded. The thread control will then also cause stopping of the machine. Thread controls of this type are shown and described, for example, in the following applicationsassigned to the assignee of the present invention, to which reference is madezSer. No. 84,401, filed Oct. 27, I970 and Ser. No. 77,l89, filed Oct. 1, i970.

Cross-wound spooling machines of the above-mentioned type usually have a plurality of spindles, which may be between and 100 spindles. in automatic apparatus, the number of the specific knotting or splicing devices may vary widely; it may be, that one splicing device is associated with each cross wound spindle; or, one splicing or knotting device may be associated with a number of spindles. One commercial apparatus has a totality of. 50 spindles, subdivided into groups of 10 each, and each group having a knottingor splicing device associated therewith.

The number and length of stoppages and down-time of any specific spindle depends-not only on the quality of the yarn, and its accuracy in meeting the tolerence of the gauge, but also on the adjustment of the machine and the efficiency of its operation, as well as of the knotting or splicing device. The down time of the spindles of the machine, with :respect to total 'operating time thus is a measure of the efficiency of operation of the machine as a whole. The down-time of the various machines, and of the spindles in the various machines is not constant, since portions of the machine may go out of adjustment, or may become worn. it is therefore essential that adecrease in efficiency beyond a certain level should be rapidly detected, so that the causes for excessive down time can be quickly localized and repaired. Thus, apparatus should be so arranged that a trendto decreased operating effectiveness can be detected. The problem which arises is to provide an apparatus for constant supervision of the machine, and determination of its operating efficiency to detect any fall-off quickly and before excessive repairs become necessary.

In the past, the effectiveness of cross-wound spooling machines has been checked by having machinists, technicians, or controllers walk past the various machinesin recurring intervals and count the specific spindles which are not operating. The number of the stopped spindles and the period of a control cycle can then beused to obtain a rough picture of the efficiency of the various machines, and to detect trends towards decreased operating effectiveness. Having machine supervisors, or foremen check the operation of the machine is, of course,.a rathertime consuming and an only rough approximation of actual efficiency, although some conclusions can be drawn from mere visual inspection.

It has been proposed to provide an electric interrogation network connected to each of the machines. A

progressive switch, such asa stepping switch is provided connected-to all the spindlesto interrogate, electrically, the spindles one after the other and to obtain an indication whether they are operating, that is whether thread is being-spooled, or whether they are stopped. Such apparatus provides determinations in short and constant interrogation cycles, for example in the order of seconds. The accuracy of determination can. thus be increased. A substantial disadvantage of this method is the comparatively large cost, the complexity of installation and the requirement that each personnel are avoided.

v SUBJECT MATTER OF THE PRESENT INVENTION Briefly,-the multiple heads of the machines are all associated with switches which, when the heads are operating properly, are closed. A resistance is placed in series with each one of the switches, and all the switches, together with their series resistances are placed in a parallel circuit, so that, when all operating heads are functioning properly, that is, in a textile machine when all spindles are running, a certain equivalent impedance will result in the parallel circuit.

This impedance is used asthe load resistance in the charging circuit for a condenser, so that the time constant of charging the condenser will vary with the value of the equivalent resistance, as determined by the number of spindles actually operating. A discharge circuit is provided for the condenser which includes a threshold detector, the condenser-being discharged when a predetermined charge level is reached. Upon reaching of this level, and upon discharge of the condenser, an output pulse is provided. The spacing between output pulses will thus be a measure of the number of switches which are closed and thus, of the number of spindles which are operating at any one time. The pulses through a certain time units are counted and evaluated, so that their total count will The invention will} be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a multiple spindle textile machine incorporating the supervisory apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a general schematic block diagram in which groups of spindles of a machine are combined for sequential efficiency determination and FIG. 3 isa schematic circuit diagram of a circuit to determine the efficiency of the machine.

The spooling machine has been indicated only in general outlines in FIG. 1, and those portions not necessary for an understanding of the present invention have been left off. Basically, a cross wound spool unit A has spindles with cross wound spools F thereon. Thread T is wound from cops D. to the cross wound spools F, and passed through a thread sensor element E. The cop spindles are combined together in groups 81, B2 BN, for example of 10 spindles each. Some of the spindles in group Bl have been indicated D11, D12 Dln. The thread from each one of the cops is passed through a separate, individual thread gauge of sensing element El 1, E12 Eln, to be wound up on the cross wound reel F11, F12 Fln. The second group, B2 then will have-a similar arrangement of cop spindles D, thread sensors E and wind up spindles F.

Each one of the thread sensors has a switch indicat ing whether thread is running, that is whether the spin dles are operating, or whether the thread is stopped. Thus, thread sensor Ell causes operation of switch 811; thread sensor E12 causes operation of a similar switch. The switches may, of course, also be'associated with the spindles themselves and indicate whether the spindles are turning or not, as is well known in the'art.

Referring now to FlG.'3: each one of the switch contacts S1, S2 Sn, when closed, indicates that the associated spindles are operating, that is, that thread is being wound; conversely, when the switches are open, the spindles are stopped. As seen in thediagram of FIG.

3, each one of the switches has a resistance R,, of equal value, connected in 'series' therewith. The series connection of the switches and the associated resistances are then connected together in parallel, to form a load stage RN. The load stage RN will provide an equivalent load resistance R at terminal points A B. The resistance will be defined by:

- R=R,/N(t) (1) wherein N indicates the number of spindles operating at any one time and thus the number of the switches which are closed. This value N will vary with time and thus is indicated in the form ofa function of time, (t).

Load stage R, is connected to a utilization circuit. The input thereto is a high impedance current generator circuit JG, including a transistor T1. The, voltage U,,, at thebase E of the transistor is so arranged that the emitter voltage U,,, that is, the voltage across input terminals A B' is independent of ambient temperature and the loading R. The collector current I therefore will be at all times I QI JRJNU) (2) Current generator JG is in turn connected to an integration stage C] to which an output and threshold stage SE is connected. The output and threshold stage SE additionally forms a discharge circuit for a condenser C contained in the integrating stage CJ, and

charged by the collector current I of the, high impedant source JG. Output and threshold stage SE additionally causes discharge of the condenser at all times to a predetermined value Uc min after the condenser voltage U has reached value U max. The difference voltage U of the minimum and maximum threshold values is temperature compensated, that is, is independent of ambient temperature. The condenser C is thus discharged at all times when the condenser voltage U has reached a value of U min AU When the condenser voltage U has reached this value, the output and threshold stage SE supplies an output pulse over its output terminals 0' F. If the integration interval is extended over the operating period t, of the group of spindles, then n number of pulses are supplied in accordance with the relationship:

f Nmdr The number of pulses n thus is a measure of theeffective integrated spooling time if one assumes the discharge time of. the condenser to be so small with respect to its charging time that it can be neglected. The circuit is so arranged that this time is so small that it does not interfere with effective measurement.

The output and threshold stage, in essence, is an asymmetrical Schmitt trigger with a constant current discharge transistor connected thereto, and, itself interconnected in known manner and utilizing standard components; the specific circuit arrangement itself is known and need not be described in great detail. The operation will be apparent from'a consideration of the circuit diagram:

when the condenser C is sufficiently discharged, the transistor T4 connected to junction D is blocked. The transistor T5 connected to transistor T4 will then become conductive. A darlington-connected transistor T6 permits high collector resistance for transistor T4. The discharge transistor T2 is blocked over the circuit including the further transistors T7, T8 and T9. The condenser C of the current generator circuit is being charged over transistor T1. As soon as the condenser voltage cross condenser C has reached its maximum value U max, transistor T4 becomes conductive and transistor T5 blocks. The maximum condenser voltage U max corresponds to the emitter voltage U,;, plus the emitter-base voltage of transistor T4. The value of the emitter voltage U,; is determined by the value. of the emitter resistance of transistors T4 and T5 and by the total collector resistance of the transistor T5. When transistor T 5 is in blocked condition, transistor T8 conducts and the base of transistor T9 is placed at a certain potential. As a result, a positive voltage is applied to the output F of output and threshold stage SE, which also raises the potential of the emitter of the discharge transistor T2. v

The current through the condenser C is constant since the collector current of the transistor T2 (that is, the discharge current of the condenser C) will be constant. It will be determined by the value of the emitter resistance of the transistor T1 and the voltage across the emitter resistance. This results in a very short condenser discharge time without any pronounced current peaks. As soon as the base voltage of transistor T4, that is, the condenser voltage U reaches a minimum value U min, transistor T4 will block and transistor T5 will become conductive. U min is the sum of the emitter voltage U,; and the emitter-base voltage of the transistor T4. The value of the emitter voltage U is determined by the value of the emitter resistance of transistors T4 and T5 as well as by the collector resistance of transistor T4. When transistor T5 becomes conductive, the discharge transistor T2 is blocked over the transistors T7 and T8. At the same time, the voltage at the output terminal F disappears. A new charge cycle begins.

The pulse appearing at the output terminal F of the output and threshold stage SE is applied to a time unit normalizingcircuit U,,,. The normalizing circuit provides a pulse for each one-thousandth hour (l0 h), if the number of the switches N(t) is a maximum and constant; thus, one pulse for each thousandth hour is provided when the thread sensors E (FIG. 1) of all spindles of a group are in the position corresponding to a thread being spooled. The number of the output signalsm of the circuit U thus corresponds to the one-thousandths (10' of the effective operating time of the spindles.

A decade counter Z is connected to circuit Urn, which counts the pulses and provides an output count indication. The last decade thus provides the number of effective thousandths of spooling time. If the indication should be in hundreds of spooling time hours, a divideby-lO circuit Ud is interposed between the normalizing circuit Um and the decade counter Z. The decade counter Z will thus operate as an integrated time storage device. As many circuits are necessary to supervise a single spooling machine, as spindle groups are provided on the machine. The example shown has five spindle groups. Each machine, additionally, requires a clock which indicates the overall operating time t, of the machine in the same time units as that of the responding to the equivalent resistance RN when all switches are closed, in other words, providing a fixed number of clock output pulses per unit time, such as thousand pulses per hour.

The efficiency of a spindle group on a spooling machine can be determined as follows:

' g s/ a wherein t is the effective spooling time and is the operating time of the machine, or of the groups, respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 2: the spooling pulses T, of the various spindle groups B1, B2 Bn appear at the outputs of the respective divide-by-ten circuits U U U The output time pulses t, of the machine appear at the timeunit normalizing circuit U,, of the above-- referred to clock, and is stored in a counter Z,,,. The

, clock pulses from the circuit U,, are stored in operating time counters Z1,'S2 Zn. The various counters can be arranged in decade form, to count thousands, hu'ndreds, tens and units of spooling hour's,as desired. The elapsed time clock Z,, is connected to a 999 count comparator stage V which, during the last thousands hour of each full hour of operating time provides an output pulse. This output pulse signal effects read-out of thespooling time storage and counting units Z1 Z,,. In accordance with the above-referred to relationship (4), the contents of the storage counters Z1 to Zn indicate the efficiency, integrated and averaged over the elapsed hour of operating time.

The read-out is obtained over a selective connector read-out unit 20 which is so connected thatthe contents T of the spooling time storage counters Z1, Z2 Zn of the various groups of the spindles, that is, the various efficiencies, are sequentially applied to a printer 30 of known and usual type, which provides a print out of the operating efficiency of the various spooling groups. After print out, all of the storage units and counters Z1, Z2 Zn are reset so that upon the next full hour of operating time T the contents of the counters Zl Zn will again be representative of the operating efficiency of the various spooling groups in the next hour of operating time.

In accordance with the above definitions, the con-- tents t, of the counters Z1, Z2 Zn corresponds to the efficiency of one spindle group, for each full hour of operating time, only when in the preceeding hour the units were not shut down. In order to prevent print out of an incorrect indication of efficiency, interrogation of the storage unit of a counter is inhibited when a spindle group was turned off deliberately. Suchdeliberate interruption is signalled by a group of keys K1, K2 Kn which, in effect, are disable selectors, associated with the respective groups, and manually operated by the operating personnel of the spooling machine. Inhibition of read-out, that is, operation of any one of the disabled selectors is stored in a disablev storage unit 40, which,

cally in connection with a multi-spindle textile spooling machine; various changes and modifications may be made, as determined by design requirements, within the inventive concept, to adapt the invention to various uses and applications and combinations with various machines.

, I claim:

1. Multiple operating head machine in which each machine head has an individual switch (SL-Sn) indicating, by its position, whether the machine head is running or stopped, said machine having supervisory apparatus comprising a plurality of like individual resistances (R one each connected in series with an individual switch (SI-Sn), a switch and a series connected resistance forming a machine head circuit; means connecting the individual machine head circuits all in parallel, whereby the equivalent instantaneous impedance (R) of the parallel circuit will be an indication of the number of operating heads at any instant of time and form a load resistance;

a condenser (C), and a charging and discharge circuit therefor connected to 'said' condenser, the charging circuit including said load resistance and having a time constant to charge said condenser which varies with the value of said equivalent impedence (R),

the discharge circuit including a threshold detector discharging the condenser when a predetermined charging level is reached and supplying, upon each such discharge, an output pulse to provide a series of pulses which are spaced from each other in dependence on the number of switches (SI-Sn) being closed, to form a measure of the time integral of the heads in operation.

2. Machine according to claim 1 comprising a current generator circuitincluding a transistor (T1), said equivalent resistance being connected to form the emitter resistance for the transistor (T1) and means (T3) compensating the base-emitter voltage (U to provide a constant emitter voltage the condenser (C) being connected in the collector circuit of said transistor (T1 to provide a collector current to charge said condenser which is proportional to the number of closed switches (Si-Sn) forming said equivalent resistance.

3. The combination of multiple spindle textile spooling machine in theapparatus of claim 2, wherein each spindle forms an operating head and has one of said switches associated therewith, said switch being closed when the spindle is delivering thread.

' 4.'Machine according to claim 1 including a clock tri er circuit' Um connected to have the out at ulses applied th eret and supplying a predet i-mi ned number of trigger pulses (e.g.: l,000) per unit time (e.g.: 1 hour) when the pulse rate of the output pulsesis a maximum and corresponds to the equivalent resistance indicative of the switches being closed to indicate that all machine heads are operating;

and means indicating, per unit time, the number of trigger pulses.

4 5. Machine according to claim 4 including timing means indicating elapsed units of operating time;

and means (V, 20) comparing the time integral of operating heads, as determined by the number of trigger pulses, with units of elapsed operating time as an indication of operating efficiency of the machine heads.

6. Machine according to claim 4, wherein said clock trigger circuit comprises a single resistance of fixed value to form a predetermined load resistance;

a condenser (C) and a charging and discharge circuit therefor connected to said condenser, the' charging circuit including said load resistance and having a predetermined time constant to'charge said condenser, as determined by the value of said resistance;

the discharge circuit including a threshold detector discharging the condenser when a predetermined charge level is reached and supplying, upon each such discharge, an output pulse, to provide a series of pulses which are spaced from each other in dependence on the value of the resistance.

7. Machine according to claim 1 wherein said machine is a textile spooling machine and said operating heads are spooling spindles;

and wherein said switches are associated with said spindles, the switch of any one spindle being closed when the spindle is delivering thread.

8. Machine according to claim 7 wherein said spooling machine is a multiple spindle machine;

a plurality of spindles are associated together in groups and into a single supervisory apparatus;

each group being provided with a plurality of separate supervisory apparatus;

and indicating means are provided conneetable intermittently and sequentially to individual supervisory apparatus to intermittently and sequentially indicate the integrated operating time of separate groups of spindles as determined by each of said apparatus.

=0: e e a 

1. Multiple operating head machine in which each machine head has an individual switch (S1-Sn) indicating, by its position, whether the machine head is running or stopped, said machine having supervisory apparatus comprising a plurality of like individual resistances (RO), one each connected in series with an individual switch (S1-Sn), a switch and a series connected resistance forming a machine head circuit; means connecting the individual machine head circuits all in parallel, whereby the equivalent instantaneous impedance (R) of the parallel circuit will be an indication of the number of operating heads at any instant of time and form a load resistance; a condenser (C), and a charging and discharge circuit therefor connected to said condenser, the charging circuit including said load resistance and having a time constant to charge said condenser which varies with the value of said equivalent impedence (R), the discharge circuit including a threshold detector discharging the condenser when a predetermined charging level is reaChed and supplying, upon each such discharge, an output pulse to provide a series of pulses which are spaced from each other in dependence on the number of switches (S1-Sn) being closed, to form a measure of the time integral of the heads in operation.
 2. Machine according to claim 1 comprising a current generator circuit including a transistor (T1), said equivalent resistance being connected to form the emitter resistance for the transistor (T1) and means (T3) compensating the base-emitter voltage (UBO) to provide a constant emitter voltage (Uo); the condenser (C) being connected in the collector circuit of said transistor (T1) to provide a collector current to charge said condenser which is proportional to the number of closed switches (S1-Sn) forming said equivalent resistance.
 3. The combination of multiple spindle textile spooling machine in the apparatus of claim 2, wherein each spindle forms an operating head and has one of said switches associated therewith, said switch being closed when the spindle is delivering thread.
 4. Machine according to claim 1 including a clock trigger circuit (Um) connected to have the output pulses applied thereto and supplying a predetermined number of trigger pulses (e.g.: 1, 000) per unit time (e.g.: 1 hour) when the pulse rate of the output pulses is a maximum and corresponds to the equivalent resistance indicative of the switches being closed to indicate that all machine heads are operating; and means indicating, per unit time, the number of trigger pulses.
 5. Machine according to claim 4 including timing means indicating elapsed units of operating time; and means (V, 20) comparing the time integral of operating heads, as determined by the number of trigger pulses, with units of elapsed operating time as an indication of operating efficiency of the machine heads.
 6. Machine according to claim 4, wherein said clock trigger circuit comprises a single resistance of fixed value to form a predetermined load resistance; a condenser (C) and a charging and discharge circuit therefor connected to said condenser, the charging circuit including said load resistance and having a predetermined time constant to charge said condenser, as determined by the value of said resistance; the discharge circuit including a threshold detector discharging the condenser when a predetermined charge level is reached and supplying, upon each such discharge, an output pulse, to provide a series of pulses which are spaced from each other in dependence on the value of the resistance.
 7. Machine according to claim 1 wherein said machine is a textile spooling machine and said operating heads are spooling spindles; and wherein said switches are associated with said spindles, the switch of any one spindle being closed when the spindle is delivering thread.
 8. Machine according to claim 7 wherein said spooling machine is a multiple spindle machine; a plurality of spindles are associated together in groups and into a single supervisory apparatus; each group being provided with a plurality of separate supervisory apparatus; and indicating means are provided connectable intermittently and sequentially to individual supervisory apparatus to intermittently and sequentially indicate the integrated operating time of separate groups of spindles as determined by each of said apparatus. 